Monday, April 10, 2006

Trombone Angels (Two)

(This poem grew up of a poet's suggestion on MySpace about mixing parts of poems. I played with the idea with my 'two poems', posted earlier, merging the two seven minute poems there. I then worked with the merge on paper, adding to it. Here's the new version.)

The trombone angels have no teeth.No ears.Lips like a frozen kiss.Their last dance was in the air,ghost band hovering over the flamesat Auschwitz, Cambodia, Iraq.Dressed in black raincoats,they shuffle to fresh graveyardsand bone laden ditches,feet cut and dirty.

What did they think when they once flew, ground rushing beneath them so fast?Did they see gods reachout to snatch soul from bodybefore flesh died?Is that too much to believe?Too much to hope for?

They blow a sweet tunefor those who no longer buy liesfrom bible-rumped matrons about lesser gods for those not washed by Christ's bloodor chained to a catholic sainthood.Those matrons claim we're all sinners.They cast the first stones to prove it.

The wail of the trombones risesas night tosses its net of stars.A cock cries three times.The silence from the graves is deafening.

4 comments:

Thanks, Pat. I made a recording of this, complete with some opening effects and music behind me, but I have to load it to my site and create a meta file to make it stream in order to post it here and I'm just plum out of energy (my southern roots showing there:-)

I like this... I have always loved angels, and the images here are wonderful... I will have to read the originals when I have time. I have posted some more poetry. Ok, a poem, but I did some writing, and that is what counts, right? Stop by and see me some time!

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About Me

I didn't start out as a poet. I wanted to be a novelist. I also wanted to sail the Intracoastal Waterway through the Chesapeake Bay to the Vineyard one more time. On September 23, 1990, I woke up with a severe case of what was later to be diagnosed as ME/CFS (known by the demeaning name of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).Finally, this year, 2011, the name was officially changed to M.E. Internationally. Hooray! As a former Clinical Psychologist, losing my old life was no fun! See the About Me page on my website to learn more about life before and during M.E.. Recently, exciting developments suggesting a retrovirus is involved in the etiology have been hitting the news.While the research wasn't replicated more than once, it meant that more researchers are delving into the problem. You'll find my poems in Chiron Review, The Dead Mule, Main Street Rag, PoetsArtist,Orange and Sardines, The Cliffs: Soundings, Wild Goose Review, In The Fray, Empowerment4Women, Remark Journal, Haiga Online, Moonset, Simply Haiku, to name a few.

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BOOK AND CHAPBOOK NEWS:

Shadows Trail Them Home, another collaboration with Scott Owens, was released by Clemson University Press in December, 2012.

Ron Moran, author of The Jane Poems and Waiting, and Professor Emeritus at Clemson, says of the book: "Shadows Trail Them Home is an excellent and compelling novel in poetry, an important contribution to the cultural canon of American life, presented in an engaging but disturbing context. It needs to be read by a wide audience, not only those who have faced abuses as children, as the two main characters have, but also by a reading public that treasures poetry that fuses superior writing with major social issues."
Reviews will be out in the near future. I only bought a few copies to sell personally so contact me quickly if you want one signed by me. You can also buy personally from me from paypal at the bellow link:

The Nature of Attraction, a collaboration with Scott Owens, is now available for seven dollars plus postage through Main Street Rag Press at
Main Street Rag Press. I have a few personal copies to sell which I'll sign and dedicate if you contact me or order through the following paypal link.

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Lummox Press published Sea Trails, my first full length poetry book,in the fall of 2009. Sea Trails is available at Lummox Press. Click on the link for a paypal link. You'll also find samples from the book. Price is $15 plus postage. If you want a signed/dedicated copy, say so in the instruction box since I will mail those from the stock he leaves with me for that purpose

See Scott Owen's review in the Nov/Dec 2009 Wild Goose Review, reprinted also on his personal blog and is easier to access. (To see the Wild Goose review, hit reviews, then go to 'other links' on the review page that comes up and you'll be taken to a PDF page.)

Helen Losse, poetry editor of The Dead Mule, also posted a wonderful review of the book Blogcritics.org. Thank you, Helen and Scott for such great reviews!

The book is also available at Amazon but can't signed or dedicated there.

Also,Lummox Press published my latest chapbook, Hesitant Commitments, in 2008 as part of its Little Red Book series. Ordering information is at Lummox Press. Go to the book store, then to the Little Red Book series and you'll find my book on that list with a paypal link. Cost in the U.S. is $6 including mailing. Reviews of the book can be found by Emma Trellis and Cheryl Townsend at Goodreads.com (under the title) and archived to last year's Wild Goose Poetry Review. A review by Michael Parker recently also appeared in MiPo's Oranges and Sardines (print).

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Sixteen copies of my first book, Abrasions, published by Rank Stranger Press are left and in my hands! If you wish to pay by check, email me with 'Abrasions' in the header.

The following link will lead you to payment by paypal in a separate window. Cost: Eight dollars includes mailing in the U.S. Contact me for any additional mailing costs out of the U.S.

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